An important and often overlooked market for self-published books is public libraries, and you need to prepare for this market before publication.
This market requires a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN). An LCCN is a unique identification number for your book in the Library of Congress’ catalog record. Since you’ll be applying before publication you need to get a Preassigned Control Number (PCN) (http://www.loc.gov/publish/pcn/ ). The PCN requires cataloging in publication (CIP) data, so you will also need to get your book data, called publisher-generated CIP data. The librarian I chose gave me a good price and fast turnaround of a few days at http://www.cipblock.com. There are other people who do this also; you can compare prices etc. with a google search. The CIP data allows individual libraries to categorize your book for their own shelves.
If you obtain a PCN, you will need to send a copy of your final book to the Library of Congress once it’s published.
Good luck!
What if your book is already published? Is it too late? Will libraries not carry your book if it doesn't have that number?
ReplyDeleteI know a few small libraries have bought copies of my book for circulation, but I've tried multiple times to get the huge library system where I live to carry it. I now wonder if this is the issue. Or is it that doing this is going to increase your visibility to them so they are more likely to order the book on their own?